The decision by Universal to scrap Paul Greengrass’ Martin Luther King Jr biopic, Memphis, had everyone assuming it was purely a scheduling decision. Either that on Paul went off and did something crazy. Turns out…

It was pressure from King’s estate that may have contributed to Universal’s exeunt. They didn’t take issue with Greengrass shaking a camera at the memory of MLK Jr., but they did take issue with him making up facts about his life. Namely the extra-marital affairs that appeared in the script but not in reality.

Andrew Young, a close friend to King, told Deadline that he reached out to Universal and had this to say about the script:

“I thought it was fiction.” As for the depiction of infidelity, Young said: “There is testimony in congressional hearings that a lot of that information was manufactured by the FBI and wasn’t true. The FBI testified to that. I was saying simply, why make up a story when the true story is so great? My only concern here is honoring the message of Martin Luther King’s life, and how you can change the world without killing anybody.”

“But we had the most powerful and understanding wives in history, Coretta, my wife Jean, and Ralph Abernathy’s wife Juanita. These women were more dedicated and enthusiastic in pushing us into these struggles than anybody, and the inference Coretta might have been upset about Martin being gone so much or them having marital troubles, it’s just not true.”

Why did they stop with one extra-marital affair? You need to go completely outlandish nowadays if you want your biopic to be a hit. I mean, look at the renaissance that Abraham Lincoln is enjoying. Maybe if you called this bitch MLK Jr: Secret Werewolf, you’d have yourself a go picture, Greengrass.

Some are speculating that these aren’t the only reasons for the abrupt halting of production, though. Apparently the MLK estate has had serious objections about the content of the film – although it isn’t known if this is because of controversial subject matter, or because there’s another MLK movie in development at Dreamworks which is being made with the full approval of the King estate. Either way, Greengrass and Co. are now looking for new financiers to keep the movie going. Maybe the city of Memphis would want to throw in a few bucks – no such thing as bad publicity, right? (via Deadline)

With filming to begin in June, one can safely pencil this one in as an Oscar nominee come January 2013. In the nearer term, expect rampant anticipation on who will land the possibly star-making or award-winning role of Martin Luther King. I wish we could rule James Franco out for this role, but he’s simply proved me wrong too many times before.

Greengrass has also been closely linked with the super-ultra-mega-tentpole release Cleopatra, but no news has surfaced in months, so it would appear that whichever way that decision goes, Memphis will get priority.

The juggernauts that are Paul Greengrass and Universal Studios should kill many of the other MLK projects that were rumored or in pre-production, namely, the Dreamworks and Lee Daniels-led Selma, which was circling the drain even before this news came about.

That “may” is for real though, so it doesn’t mean this is going to happen for sure. Greengrass is in high demand these days despite last year’s big financial flop Th Green Zone, and has been previously attached to stuff like a 3D movie about Cleopatra starring Angelina Jolie, an aborted Jimi Hendrix biopic, Fantastic Voyage and Treasure Island. It’d be pretty cool to see a version of Fantastic Voyage in which the tiny ship gets hijacked by Islamic terrorists, but Memphis sounds like it would be a good movie too.

As far as casting is concerned, it’s all speculation at this point. Some are saying that Greengrass’s choice to play Hendrix, Anthony Mackie, might also make a good MLK, although that seems a bit tenuous. Did you know that Martin Luther King used to say “‘scuse me while I kiss this guy” at some of his speeches as a joke? (IndieWire)